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Show CoTTlt1it Ht (he Drrln-illr CompnnT. H CHAPTER I. nB3l Great Discoveries, J ylCHOIAS BARTON wus bOTH j, jj with a queer temperament. jWI Ho was one of those who think a great deal, but say very little. He was a dreamer, some-thing, some-thing, perhaps, of a poet. At least (beneath all his quietude and re-servo re-servo then was a great well of motion, with deep waters, which threatened to rlso and overwhelm H him when they wero 6tlrred by kindness or unklndness. by queer, B unexpected beauties of wound or H color or scent, or by some keen, sharp touch from one of those mys- H rer.ous fingers of fate which somo times come out of the darkness to H pluck at human heart strings. H Ho was conscious of groat mys- terles about him. Sometimes ho gJBHI walked a llttlo way toward them, with peering eyes, with a wild beat- fl Ing of the heart, with an adven- turous fear, like a primitive create H nr, in a Sr,:at f01C3t Then, panlc- H stricken, he would hurry back 'o B h.s familiar work, saying nothing H of his venture, or of the things ha JjiSmH Ho was very watchful, and, as it -were, always on his guard, as H though encompassed by hidden H perils. Because it seemed to him H that at any moment the vast pow- H ers about him might change the H familiar Into the unfamiliar, the H known into tho unknown. And it H was of the unknown that he was H afraid, though he was tempied to H explore it. H V -t he was not a covard, nor weak-willed, nor of morbt 1 moods. There were times when he showed extraordinary courage, facing great dangers with a quiet and noble resolution. His strength of will H amounted at times to a stubborn H obstinacy when not all the great H powers about him. not Bristles nor Beauty nor roily not even the H Beast could make him budce an H Inch if be did not want to budge H I As for being morbid. I think H i Nicholas Barton's history will prove Hj the falsity of such a charge was a dreamer, and he 'Iked H loneliness, and be Indulged W qnei r, fantastic, and, sometimes Hl pr posterons Imaginations, but H d roams were such as cotuo H lo people who are sensitive to K the beauty and wonder of life, H and In loneliness be wan H cheerful, and busy with brain ami hand". His ehicf desire was to get B in spite of in- H ble bis in- H 4uisiUveness, his problngs ami searchlngs. the truth or things wtm B always difficult to grasp. Truth H was always playing a game of hide H nnd-eeek, like God, like the Bquirrel H like Bristles when he said. "Let's fl be hears'" and disappeared Under cloth 1 Vet it was this desire for truth. H the big, eternal queries in his eyes. H which Rave to Nicholas Barton his H peculiar power and made people a fl little frightened of him. Even be- H foiv he bad uttered his first word H in the World, when he lay dumb H and watchful in a wheeled carriage, H Bristh-s had been scared by oil H "He seems to look into one':) H .-aid Bristles "I believe he H knows what an awful rotter 1 am H "He frightens me sometimes with H the enormous gravity In those blue eyes of said Beauty. am H aur knows when I lose my H t em per H "You shouldn't lose your temper 1 with me.' said Bristles. "You know H how much I H -That is why. said Beauty. "U H you had a little bit of the bully in H you I should be as meek as a lamb. H every' woman Bhould marry H a H ' Hush!" said Bristles. "The kid H is IHI "How absurd of you! As if he fl cou'.d understand!" said Beauty. H And yet she had a quaint idea B ' N'irholas Barton, ber son, had H listened and understood. For his fK blue eyes were fixed upon her with H his great desire for truth. He had jHj that grave stare, before which a few fl -., later in his life, his mother jH drooped her eyelashes so as to 'aide IH her UB That was when he was eight H years old, and after the Beast had ZH During those eight years of life B he had been making many strange H discoveries about the world in which he lived. He discovered tbftt ho was not the only kid in the world, H but that there were thousands of B kids, each of them belonging tc a BH Bristles and a Beauty, and living in IH the square boles hehlnd tho big IH walls which hid them from him H after they had run away from the HH Hhadows which crept across the H grass and stole down from the tree- IH trunks and whispered together in IB dark corners, Just about tho time JH when the lamps became alive. That H discovery came to him gradually. Hj Tt must have been when he was BB four years old that the tremendous J fact of other klde. more than ever ll: he could count by using his ten BH fingers over and over again, burst flHI upon him like a thunder clap. It H made him feel rather miserable at H first, because, as he told Polly, It made him feel frightfully little. Of H course Polly could not understand H nhe never could and he did not take the trouble to explain to ber. H H was about this time that he made H tho discovery that the world wus B ever so much bigger than the big- 1 rest thing he could think of. It wn bigger, even, than Battersea Pari. Pollv said It was a million times bigger than Battersea Park, but then she could not tell him what a million was. After counting up to twenty sho paid It was ever so much more, bill she couldn't be bothered That made him feel frightfully llttlo. too. and he was glad to get back home, where sixes were more convenient, and whore he felt bigger, although ho had to climb almost as high as the sky be never could count the number of steps exactly right ca It time before he reached his front door, and although the grandfather's grand-father's clock In tho hall was un enormous giant with a great cavern inside his stomach. But here, onco past tho grandfather's clock he was safe safe from (he thought of bigness which frightened him. Hifl own room was full of Utile things, f w 1 t a chair In which he rould sit without with-out dangling his legs, a hod in which be could lie without wondering won-dering whether he would ever find his way out again, and a chest of drawers which he could overlook If he btood on a hassock. That was where most of his friends lived most ot them like the British Army, and the Golliwog, and the Lady Wlthout-a head, and the Crab which wouldn't walk lived In a crowded-up crowded-up way In a cupboard which sometimes some-times he didn't dare to open In the dark because the Oolllwog seemed to blink its eyes, rather nastily, and because Something might Jumrj out But other friend lived in dlf ferent parts of tho room Peter Rabbit always lived on the mantelpiece, mantel-piece, next to Jemmy, the Dog with, one-ear, and not far away from BUI, the Cat Wlthout-a-tail. The Wheel barrow lived under the waahstand, with its ears sticking out. The Red Engine lived In the hearth-plnc , ready to steam on far Journey3 with him as soon as he fell asleep. In the dining room his best friends were the lions with rlnK through their noses on the sideboard side-board they were laughing Hons, though he bad never found out the joke and the hassock on tho hearth-rug, which was a fat, comfortable com-fortable old fellow who didn't mind being kicked, and tho armchair where Bristles sat when he smoked his oipe, which always held out ita arms as though longing to embrace somebody. At the back of the arm-Chair arm-Chair were i wo buttons like I which winked and blinked in tho firelight, ho that Nicholas BartoD used to turn round to see if they were looking when ho atolo across the room to peep inside the sideboard side-board cupboard, or when he went to the window to see If the lamps had come to life after the shadow- people had come Into tho street. Sere In the dining room also lived the magic carpet, where a great forest grew, full of flowers ana creeping plants, In which Nicholas' Barton used to wander on great adventures, ad-ventures, until sometimes he was so tired that be fell asleep. With these friends and many others in the kitchen and the bedroomssuch bed-roomssuch as Mr. Big Kettle. Mr. Rolling Pin. and tho magic clothe .-horse, .-horse, which could be changed into a giant's castle, a railway station. or a butcher's shop, Nicholas was more intimate and unreserved than with the people who did not understand under-stand them. He oftiv whi-peied things lo Peter Rabbi., or into one ot the hassock's ears, which he would not have told to Bristles or Beauty, or even to Polly, because he understood them, and they understood un-derstood him. They never laughed at him when he made one or his big discoveries. They never told him to do things which he didn't want to do. and they never surprised sur-prised him by doing the most unexpected unex-pected things w hen he wasn't ready for them. Beslde, their whole lifo was lived inside the flat, so that be knew all about them, whereas Bristles and Beauty were always going away mysteriously and leading lead-ing a secret lifo of which he had no knowledge or share. Although he was always watching watch-ing these two people he could never be quite sure of them, or make out t ho mystery of them. Bristles was a man of queer habits ami queer character. Ho was pretty good at fairy tales in the early morning after Nick had come in from his own room to snuggle Into Bristles' bed and pinch his nose, but pres-. pres-. ntly. just at the exciting point where the Small Boy was knocking at the drtfr of the Qia&fs Ca6lle. or Wfi V If i when he had been whisked up to the stars on a witch's broomstlclc, Bristles would give a great yawn-so yawn-so that Nick would feel as if ho might tumble to the very bottom of Red Lane and calmly go to sleep again. If Nick ventured to pinch his nose once more which was not always a safe thing to do and if he went on with the story,, it was just as likely as not he would muddlo the wholo thing up and change, the Small Boy Into a Fairy Princess, or tho witch into an ugly dragon with fiery nostrils. He was a most torgeiful man and made Nick believe that all men had this habit of forgotrulness, so that ho was terrified lest tho samo thing might creep upon him as ho grew older and older every time the clock ticked. Bristles would begin i r une of bears under the table and behave very well for a Utile while, but then suddenly bo would forget, and instead of growling growl-ing like a bear would begin to roar llko a Hon, or grunt like a pig or Crow liko a cock-a-doodle-doo 'Or if he pretended to bo a railway tr lin on the way to ho North Pole, his forgotfulness would come on suddenly and he would change Into a fire-engine, so that the whole gnmo wont astray. In spite of Nick's angry shouts. He was a weak fellow, too. was Bristles. Sometimes ho would pre-t pre-t nd lo Ret very angry and threaten to give Nick a jolly good hiding, bu. Nick pooh-poohed his threats, knowing the falsity of them. Once! "'V He Had Grave Stare, Before Which, a Few Years Later in His Life, His Mother Dropped Her jk Eyelashes A so as to Hick- Her Soul. MP if' StSfcar f '? . " -.v' when Nick called Beauty a dirty toad, a oeabtly wretch, and a nasty damn thing all names learned from P'-dly in ber moments of ci-. ci-. citement Bristles was ordered by Beauty herself to take him into the bedroom and thrash him severely. For a 'ong time Bristles refused, pleading that Nick did not mean what he said and that he was too young to be thrashed, and that, after all, boys will be boys. Both pie had red faces Beauty was like a llaminc poppy and spoke in loud voices, while Nick looked from one to the other with grave, observant observ-ant eyes. "Good heavens! the boy nill go to the bad if lie is not beau sometimes' some-times' cried Beauty. "Surely you are not going to let him see that you are afraid of punishing him. aro you?" At tho end of tho argument. Brlstle.s took Nick by the hand ami led him to the bedroom, and Carefully Care-fully cIom. d the door. "Look hero, Nick, old boy.'' said Bristles, "1 hare got to beat you. So fake it llko a man." Nick gave a piercing howl before a finger had been laid upon him. and mado a frightful noise, while Brlsllos became very pale, and (hen thrust a penny Into his hand and said: "I'm sorry, old man Stop crying, and tell Beauty you didn't mean what you said." Some time after. Bristles and Nick strolled back into the drawing-room. Bristles was whistling in ii careless way. while Nick, clasping clasp-ing his penny, was wondering why Bristles always whistled, when he tried to hldo anything from Beauty. "I hope you gave It to him hot and strong," said Beauty. "I neer heard such language from a child " Bristles nodded, and said "He won't speak liko that again " Beuuty drew Nick close to her, and whispered into his ear: "Bristles didn't want to hurt you, Nick, but you must be punished w hun vou do had things." Nick gazed Into Beauty's eyes, in his grave, thoughtful way. "Bristles didn't hurt me. He didn't touch mo. And I don't see why I should be punlshpd when I ! bad things. Nobody ever punished pun-ished you." "What?" cried Beauty, looking at Bristles with eyes like glowing rlros. "You didn't touch him, after all? Oh, you blithering idiot!" She was furiously angry, and Bristles said "Damn" and then was vi tv quiet while he filled and amoked his pipe. And from that day Nick had no fear of Bristles, and knew him to be n weak-willed fellow. But they were good friends, for BrlstleB was, on the whole, obedient obe-dient and understood things, and was not so grow"n-up In his mind as most people who have lost belief In magic carpets, and chairs with blinking eyes, and old lious with rings through their noses, who laugh and laugh at some Joke which Ihey never tell. Vot even with Bristles one could not feel quite safe. Nick know that botween this man and Beauty thero were secrets which they hid from him. He heard them quarreling sometimes after he had gone to bed. At least, It was generally Beauty who quarreled, in a rather shrill, high voice, like the top notes in the piano, while Bristles only grunted or rumbled in the bass notes. Having Hav-ing been away all day, he would come homo sometimes looking sulky (as Polly would say when Nick put on the same look), and Instead of playing games, would say, "I don't feol like it to-hight, old man," and sit 6taring Into tho fire though he never could see the same pictures thero which Nick saw and giving every now and then a Mg sigh, and then getting up quilo suddenly, tc pace up and down the room Jus1 like a lion at the Zoo. with the same worried look in his eyes. Beauty was hardly over at honu in tho evenings, and perhaps that accounted for tho sulkinoss ol Bristles. Nick believed that must bo the reason, for he asked one day: "Why do you play at Hons all by yourself?" "Because 1 am as lonely as an . 1 old lion in a cage," said Bristles. J m "Whj are you as lonely as an old lion in a cago?" a-dted Nick. 3 'Because Beauty, my lady lion-ess, lion-ess, goes to play with monkr-ys," I said Bristles. I After that be burst our laughing: and 'aid "After all. I am not quite lOttel?, Lei you and I play at bears 1 But Nick wondered within him- if why did Beauty go and play with monkeys. Or. if she was so fond ot monkeys, why didn't she take Brlptles to join In the game? It tral only vfry rarely that Bristles won I When he did, he put on black clothes and a waistcoat waist-coat with a big hole lu the middle of It, so that a stiff white shirt showed through, and a hat that folded m and out with a click Bui it didn't agree with him. Nick al- lya knew thai be would bo sulky next morning aftei he had been to i nee Beauty play with the monkeys Jt' Perhaps ll was because he could m not lie In bed ,o long as Beauty. He was always up tn breakfast I, with Nlek, while Beauty lay In bed until lunch lime, ao that Nick had j to go on tip-toe past her door, leat k he should get "What for," as Polly j j That was one of the differences j between Beauty and Bristles. though It did nor explain all the mystery of them. There wore other j differences. Bristles was out all day, and B. auty was out all night I or, at least, so far Into tho night that Mi k was nev r awake when she came back. Bristles dressed I himself, just like he had taught Nick to dress himself, but Beautv j always wanted Polly to help her. and Polly wa6 always in a bad I humor during dressing-time, and said. "Drat the woman! when ! Beauty called for hot water, and K "Lord Almighty!" when she called for a clean chemiso, and "Oh, what H a life'" when Beauty sat back In a blue drosslng-gown while Polly did lier hair, and while Nick sat on a small stool In a room littered with clothes about the floor, with newspapers, news-papers, supper things, cigarette ends, and paper-backed novels with K vely ladles on the covers. But none of these picture la.lif were quite as lovely as Beauty. It was quite a long time before Nick made that discovery. Ho made it one morning when Polly was doing Beauty's hair It was long golden hair, which shone and sparkled In the sunlight which came through the Window, It seemed to Nick that It flowed down from Beauty's head like a river of gold which h had once seen In a waking dream. And as she sat Bmlllng at her own Image in the glass, while shu smoked a gold-tipped cigarette, it seemed to Nick that her face was like one of tho droam princesses whom he bad once married In a reat castle when Peter Rabbit hadl gone on a big adventure with him. I" Only Beauty was not quite the same as the dream princess, because she had blue eyes instead of green, and because her smile showed a row of teeth liko little white birds iu H a nest of rose-leaves. g "Why are you so lovely, Beauty?"1 . asked Nick. "Bless tiro tooyl" said Beauty, laughing. "I suppose God mad rne so." "But why did God make Polly so-ugly so-ugly and you so lovely?" It was Polly's turn to laugh. "Lor, ma'am, what do you sav to that"" "Perhaps because God made Polly so good, and me so wicked," said Beauty, who seemed to find a great joke In Nick's most serious questioning. ques-tioning. "That's no reason at all," said Nick. "It would have been more sensible if God had made both ot you lovely and both of you good " Polly laughed so much that she , dropped all Beauty's hair-pins, which Nick picked up one by one. wishing to goodness that grown-up y people did not laugh at the wrong places. But Beauty did not laugh i this time. She put her head down ii a little and said: P 'I wish God could have managed m that, little Nick. It would have been so much better for me It W would save mc such a lot ot worry." X Nick tame to the conclusion that i God, wnom he Imagined to be a vory big and superior kind of , policeman with white gloves and enormous brass buttons, always , watching people from mysterious hitting places, had had a quarrel with Beauty, and wanted to prosecute prose-cute her for not keoplng off the gr.-ss. The idea rather frightened biin, because he was afraid thai (Continued on Next Page) (Continued from Preceding Page) I "she might taken way one day, by a suiden pounce. I He VII often ratner frightened about Beauty, because she had rather alarming ways. For one thing, rhe was always in a crcat hurry', except In getting out of bed. She WOllld hurry over her meals, I and keep calling out to Poll to hurry up. and then whisk away In a hansom cab, Ilka Cinderella in the fairy coach. Sometimes she came home rather breathlessly, and told Bristles or Polly that ihfl 'iad just flown in for a few minute and mi st flv off again a soon as pos- elble. Nicholas had believed at first Hut sho i rally possessed Hie J power of flying, but when he saw with hl3 own eyes th:U she generally general-ly drove up in a cab, h considered that sho was not quite truthful wl ich was a shock to him. Another of her alarming ways was the habit of talking to herself laughing to herself and crying to hcraolf in the dining room when the door was shut. Nick often held his breath nml II t nod to Beauty's voice speuklng Inside the room, saying the same things over and over again. Once he heard hor laughing quite loudly, not once, but many times, and he behoved she must have found out the Joke at which tho lions on the sideboard were always smiling He wanted to ask hflr. but somehow the fact that she had shut him outside the do r before she began to laugh to herself her-self mudo him afraid Sho frightened him also ' n get-ting get-ting angry quite iulckly and sud-deuly, sud-deuly, by slapping him on t lie hand so that It was as red as though 7' hflil tiitiill 1 1 11 n tiT' o l.r. n inI tVi.i Bl kissing it and crying out that she f " si didn't umi to hurl her darling m , .-s Kf Nick and that she was a w rot h . 1 Bal use her temper, Onoe she losi hr M IH temper so badly It was aboul tfl something that Bristles said til -t ; Ww I Xfl the took a iraee off the mantelpiece w- Jk i IB and let it drop onto the fireplace. '?'.'' fg r k, -o that It smashed Into c hundred fePi WW ' pi. ... .Uilcii Polly ha.1 to ol 3 WnLm with .1 da tpan and broom ESI like the big clock in the hall, and VmI his eyes growing larger and larger E31 until they seemed as big as his HgajSI bead. There was a dead silence Bfifl for a moment after that awful crash. Then Bristles shrugged his ahoulders up to his ears Nick learned the trick from " went oat of the room whistling a I tun Beauty put her hands to her fate, and tear-water oozed through her fingers, and her body shook like a tree in Battersea Park when the wind blows. It was the sight I qf Beauty's, shaking body whit made Nick suddenly rush to her j; clutching at her skills with a great Blfl howl of grief. Then, to his sur prise, Beauty took her hands awa from her face and burst out laugh lng, although her eyes were all - moist and shining j "If you ever break a vase like I that " she said, "I'll skin vou alive, Wl " N'rk' " J 1 "Whv did you break it?" asked Nick. I "Because I had a monkey on my back," said Beauty. "Such an evil fc I little monkey." I I Nick walked around and looked at his mother's back. 1 "1 think you tell most frightful Fit whoppers," he eald. I And yet he knew that better than , ? J anything in the world to hira was j I Heauty on her good da That was ( when she wa not in a hurry for II once, but curled upon the hearili . I rug with him, telling him queer ljt- tle fairy tales, better than any that Bristles could tell, because all hor people seemed alive and spoke in different voices, so that it really smsd as if they were in the room ; and when she came and knelt down by thn bide of his bed with hor arms clasped about him, letting him ask all the fiicstlons he wanted to ask, and answering them In a voice Which sounded like music in his ears when at last he could not keep his eyes opon ; and when she came to him in wonderful dresses all white and shimmering like a cloud In the sky. and said: "Do you think I look pretty tonight, to-night, my Nick" and bent to kiss him so that ho could take deep breaths of the scent in ner hair, like the smell of ihe flower-beds In the park, and stroke, her soft wdiite arms, and w hisper Ids love for her. Sometimes at these limes then was an excited light in her eyes, so that they -hone like the candles on each -ide of his mantelpiece, and sometimes 6he would swish up her skirts and fiance about the room on the tips of her toes, and some times Bristles would come in and stand with his hands in his pockets : taring at her with a queer smile, until she sank Into a deep eint-ev and into the waves of her white dreas before him, when he would bold out his Hand and raise her tip. and kiss her on the arm as she danced out of the room Those wre scenes which Nick cherished in his heart, and which lone afterward after-ward he remembered like wonderful wonder-ful dreams. It was in his sixth year that he made bis greatest discovery about Beauty, it was mad in the kitchen, where he was building a giant's casil- out of a cardboard box, while Polly was ironing handkerchiefs. and spitting on the hot iron so that it made that splendid sizzling noise which Nick loved to hear. It was bctweeu one of the spits that she gave a great sigh and said: "The Lord be jirs-.ised I ain't a liactress!" "What is a liactress?" asked Nick. "Your mother is a hactres?, my poor poppet," B3id Polly Nick was silent Ft was clear to him from Polly's tone of voice that a 'hactress" was a very awful and horrid thing. "Why shouldn't sho be a hac-tress?" hac-tress?" he said, putting himself on his guard. "It's what no woman ought to bo, in my opinion" said Polly, dabhine doWO the iron with a bang. Nick had a great respect for Polly's wisdom. She could do many things which neither Bristles nor Beauty could do She could bake bread and make suet puddings w ith plums in them, and suai mice with currant eyes She knew almost everything 'here was to be known about grown-UP people, cats, babies, policemen, beetles, cutting out paper figures, folding paper Loat.-, healing burns and blisters, getting good luck by putting on a stocking r ide out and other things worth knowing. But Nick was not going to allow her to say bad things about Beauty. "If you say my mother is a hac-tress, hac-tress, 1 will kill you dead." he said. Polly did not see his white face or his burning eye. She was busy p lt!i her Iron "Nothing I can say can alter things," said Polly, breathing hard ( r her iron. "She's a hactress b) nature, and a hactress by calling and It's no wonder your father is getting old before his time, poor dear." Nick took a careful aim with the pair of scissors with which ho had been cutting out a giants castle and threw them Straight at Polly fare "Take that, and dammitall'" he shouted, and he war only a little bit sorry when Polly gavo a lo d shriek, dropped her iron, and put her hand up to a great gash in lrr check. Hrisiles came striding into th kitchen. "What on earth"s tho matter.'' ho asked, sternly. I'olly was still screaming, and her face was dabbled with blood. 'She call' d Beaut? a hactress,' ald Nick, "and I tried to kill her " That night ho went lupperless to bed after begging Polly's pardon and receiving her tearful kisses, which melted all the rage in his heart. lie cried himself to sleep, not because he had no supper, not because he had been Tore d to beg Polly's pardon which was right fully hurtful to his pride but because be-cause Bristles had confirmed tho awful fact that Beauty was a "hac-tress," "hac-tress," and had said, beneath his breaih hut not so quietly that Nick had not heard the words: "And I wish to God she wasn't!" Nick had not the faintest idea what this awful thing might he, bu-he bu-he was sure that It was the worst thing that could have happened to Beauty and was a sharaetul secret which he must hid from 1J the world. CHAPTER7l The Coming of the Beast. NICHOLAS BARTON, when he became something of a scholar, divided the history his-tory of his world Into certain definite de-finite stages: B. C. and A D., before the Oreat Firo and after the (Jreat Fire, before the coming of the Beast and after the coming o the Beast. It was before the Beast came that he was initiated into some Ot tin- mysteries of Beauty's life out-l" out-l" t he flat, and into the meaning of that word 'hactrese" which Poll had pronounced as a thing offensive to her nostrils. It was Ilrlstles who give him this wonderful knowledge "Ivoolc here, Nick, my son," bo BBB said on a certain historic evening, even-ing, 'would you like to como to the theatrw and see Beauty In all her glory'.'" Nick was drawing pictures of Battersea Park. They were his private pictures which nobody ::ould understand but himself. But there, clear enough to his eyes was the old tree with arms that tried to reach down to small boys but were not quite long enough, and tho Squirrel which was always hiding hid-ing in the back parlor of his cage, so that only one bright eye looked out. and the twin old gentleman ow ls, and th one old lady owl. who . were always taking afternoon naps, even in the morning, when the sun was shining, and there was the lake, with boats full of boys u , were always shouting because thev had discovered a magic island where toffee and gingerbread nuts and striped bulls' eyes grew on the trees. All these things had Nick put down 1n pictures, but ho bad not yet drawn the noise of the shouting boys, nor the smell of the flowers which grew h tho side of the lake, when P.rlstles asked him the big question Nick Took Careful Aim with the Pair of Scissors, and Threw Them Straight at Poily's Face. f. Nick bit the end of his pencil thoughtfully, and then said: "What Is a theatre?" "It Is a place where people pretend pre-tend to bo other people. Hko you and I pretend to be bears. They get so much into the habit of pretending pre-tending thnf half of them never get back again to their real solves." Nick stared at Bristles In alarm. "I should hate that What doc3 Beauty pretend to be?" "Well, to-night sho Is pretending to be a fairy princess in love with an ass. It's rather good fun, old man." "But ladles never do fall In love with asses, do they?" asked Nick "Oh, often," 6aid Bristles, who was Hitting on his boots, the shiny ones in which Nick could see his eft n lace "It would be awkward if Beauty fll In love with an ass, wouldn't it?" said Niek. "Devilish awkward.' Bristles gave a queer laugh, end ing in a queer sigh, and Nick didn't like the look of things It would be frightlul if Beauty got so much into the habit of protending that she couldn't get back again to her real self But he accepted the Invitation to the theatre because of his desire for knowledge, and ulthough he yawned once or twice because It was getting near bed time, he told Bristles that ho had sent the old dustman off with a flea in his ear Polly was in a very had temper when she helped him to dress in his best things "Shamefui, 1 call it. keeping a child out of his bed And the theayter is no place for my poor Innocent poppet. It all comes of having a hactress for a mother." It was the first time she had uaed tho word since Nick's attack with the scissors, and, as she said afterward after-ward to the servant In the next flat, sho could have bitten her 'onsrue off for having mentioned I' again But Nick had made one of his great discoveries. It came to him In a Flash. "Is a hactress a lady that pre-vends pre-vends to be what she isn't, and Tho world was full of music, full of little tlnkliiiR bells, like those on the cab horse, playing thousands of Jig tunes, while lots of small boys whom he could :iot see In ih. d irk ness. were blow ing on whistles. All the world was suing to the theatre in cabs and carrase. and the noise of tlm wheels made a rushing sound like water turned on from bathroom taps He stared out at shadow people passing along the streets All their bodies wer, black, but 'heir faces wen while like ghosts, and they went by quietly, as though creeping on tip toe He looked up into the sky. r,nd gaTS a little hiver of excitement, for there, so ( lose above the cab In front of then that the driver could almost tOUOfa it with his whip was the old man in the moon, smiling down as thouch seeing a great Jcke in tho world. s m crowd, nodding to one or two peo m Pie, and saying good evening to a fc-gentleman fc-gentleman in a v.hite w ig, a purple B" " coat and breeches, and white silk I king whom Nick knew, with- t out beins told, to be the owner of the theatre, and an immensely rich jw ian. Then Hrisiles went down a lorn; corridor where two or three SH wt men like Polly, only not so uglj "Good evening, sir.'' and B 'toned (n an aggressive wav at Nick, and finally opened a door hli b led iuto a little rootn where W. ' Hi. re was a big window without W glass, with balcony outside, look-ing look-ing into a vast hall full of velvet Chairs and white faces and little winkling lights. BBH "Is this the theatre?'' asked Nick. PAffl J es Take off your ccat. nnd mt' make yourself nt home " 'Whore's Beauty?" asked NIcV. Wh osbbbbbB' &9BmB Ir. can't set back to her real self?" "Lord save tho child! And how did you know that?" asked Polly, startled out of her wits by such precocious wisdom. Nick did not answer So that was the meaning of the word! This new knowledge cast a gloom over his spirit- It hurt him to think that Beauty might have been pretending to him all the time. Perhaps ho had noxer known the true self of her. He must try to find it out. He would watch and try to satch her unawares. Just as he had caught the Squirrel onco when It thought thai nobody was looking H was quite a different squirrel to the one he had Lmaglned when he had only seen its bright eye peeping out from due back p; vlor of its cage, On tho journey to the theatre with Bristles in a hansom cab ho sat very quiet, drinking in all the new-Impressions new-Impressions of this great adventure adven-ture in the night. All the lamps were alive, thousands or them, like shining flowers that came dnucing past the wndow of tho cab And all the buildings were like fairy palaces, so white In tho glow of tho night lights, so terribly black where the shadows made their hiding places. and not far away from him was a tiny star, winking its eye. "Bristles," said Nick, with a quiver In his voice, "why does the moon smile ? Do you know the joke?" "Yes," said Bristles, "hut it is a bad joke. You are too young for me to tell you " "When shall I be old enough to know?" Nick knew that there were some jokes for which ho would have to wait, all those Jokos at which grown-up people laugh, but which do not seem funny to small tmys. Ib istles put his arm round Nick, and pressed him closer to his side. "When you aro as old as I am Nick. Everybody finds out the Joke then, worse luck'" At the theatre Nick felt very small as. holding on hard lo Bristles, he walked between some marble pillars Into an enormous place crowded with men with holes in their waistcoats so that their shirts showed 'hrough. and with women who bftd bare arms and ne cks, and dri sses like the beot flower beds in Battersea Park. Bristle: porised through the 'Oh, you win see her presently. Nick took off his coat, gad ' Bristles hung it on to a peg ab- surdly high abovo a small boy'e head. Then Nick drew up a chair 1 to tho open window, aud tried to find Beauty. There were thousands, of faces just like he sometimes saw them In dreams, high up and low-down, low-down, all exactly tho same, unlets ho stared at them hard and noticed the differences, and all with shin- j ing eyes. Ho could not see Beauty among them, though he looked ever so hard. Down below in the great cavern of the hall was another crowd of people, but he could not see their faces so well, only their in ads, and to his surprise ho no-tic, no-tic, id that most of tho men had taken their hair off, so that their naked heads looked like big birds' I eggs. Then ho saw a lot of wild 1 ! In I cage Only one or two I of them had taken their hair off. The others bad long hair. Ik the manea of lions. i 111 "Are thoy savages'.''' he asked, nnd Bristles, following the direction of his pointed finger, laughed a j groat deal, as though it was a Joke and said: H "Well, i hey ar rather fierce." (To Be Continued) 1 H l |